Retirement planning can be a daunting task, especially for those unfamiliar with investment strategies and financial markets. In its most basic form, retirement planning is saving, investing, and risk management, all carefully monitored and adjusted over time. 

In an effort to make retirement planning easier for the average worker, many employers and financial advisors recommend Target Date Funds (TDFs). These investment funds have grown in popularity due to their simplicity, professional supervision, and built-in risk management. 

Let’s take a closer look at Target Date Funds and discuss why they are considered one of the most effective retirement savings tools developed in the past 40 years for the average worker.

Are you looking to engage and retain your employees for longer? You’re not alone. In the current post-pandemic environment, companies are looking at every possible way to engage and retain employees longer. This applies most especially to hybrid or remote-based professionals.

A recent study found that turnover at small to midsize companies is significant, with a 25% chance of an employee leaving a company voluntarily or involuntarily before 15 months, and a 50% chance before 37 months. 

Used effectively, the vesting schedules in your retirement plans (401k, 403b, deferred compensation, and 457, to name a few) can be an excellent tool employers can use to improve employee retention.

Has your company outgrown its Professional Employer Organization (PEO)? 

It happens for all sorts of reasons. You may need an HR program that’s more customized for your organization’s needs than a PEO can provide. Your needs for benefits and HR strategies to help you compete for and keep talent may not be so easily met by the PEO’s one-size-fits-all approach. Plus, the PEO may not be as cost-effective these days for your expanding payroll, or maybe it’s time for the tax credits to start accruing to your company instead of the PEO.

Breaking up does not have to be hard to do, and timing is a big influence over how smoothly the termination goes. Here are key considerations:

As healthcare costs have risen rapidly in the last decade, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have followed,1 affecting both organizations and employees. Plan sponsors see continuously rising costs and may question if they’re getting their money’s worth.

Data analytics is the first step in answering that question, directing employers toward what medical situations can sink a healthcare plan. Analytics can show the conditions, treatments, and outcomes that are problematic and need addressing.

But to fully understand any healthcare plan issue — and know how to fix it — requires clinical informatics, where experts examine data from a medical perspective.

The need to improve recruiting and retention has affected employee benefits and workforce absence management rather considerably these past two years, in some cases resulting in more liberal policies on hybrid work, paid time off (PTO) and observed holidays.

HUB International’s 2023 Workforce Absence Management Survey, which surveyed 514 employers with 50 to 1,000 employees, found that remote and hybrid work trends continue, with more companies making these options standard. These same employers are also providing additional paid holidays and PTO.

The survey found that employers are implementing these changes largely to stay competitive in the ongoing battle to attract and keep top talent. And employers say they’re likely to implement more changes in absence management to improve the work environment.

Employers of every size continue to struggle with the rising costs of healthcare, which ultimately increases the cost of medical premiums for everyone.

While employers have traditionally worried about large medical claims, the growing popularity of exorbitantly-priced specialty drugs is creating an entirely new category of potentially catastrophic healthcare spend. 

In fact, after raising the prices of more than 1,400 prescription drugs in 2022, pharmaceutical companies started 2023 off with a 5% increase for more than 450 medications. Add to that considerable pipeline of new medicines to treat specialty diseases, including gene cell therapies, RNA therapies, immuno-oncology treatments, etc., and you have a recipe for disaster.

One solution means looking inward: transitioning from the fully funded model of healthcare benefits to self-funded health plans featuring stop-loss insurance. Stop-loss insurance is essential for a self-funded plan because it enables an employer to cap medical claims expenses at a specific amount. 

The SECURE Act 2.0 contains dozens of changes to retirement plans, but perhaps none bigger than these two: New 401(k) and 403(b) plans will be required to automatically enroll participants in the respective plans, and employee salary deferral rates will automatically escalate each year.

This rule will apply to employers who have started retirement plans after December 29, 2022, and take effect for plan years starting in 2025.

There is an exception for new companies in business for less than three years, employers with 10 or fewer employees, and governmental and church plans.

For plan sponsors, the details include: 

As an employer, it is crucial to consider the diverse needs and preferences of the workforce when designing a Paid Time Off (PTO) program.

We, therefore, thought it might be fitting on our newest federal holiday, Juneteenth, to delve into the topic of selecting holidays for your PTO program, aiming to find a balance that pleases the majority of your workforce.

While advocating for a well-rounded approach, we’ll also make sure to explore the potential challenges and implications that arise when trying to please everyone.  

Similar to Quiet Quitting, Bare Minimum Mondays is a trend entailing employees prioritizing their work-life balance and mental health by doing the least amount of work possible on Mondays in the hopes of avoiding burnout during the rest of the week.

The practice is generally in response to underlying issues, such as lack of engagement and stress. It's essential for employers to understand this trend so they know how to support employees' well-being and, in turn, reap the benefits of a healthy workforce.

Today we’ll explain Bare Minimum Mondays and the reasons behind what’s possibly driving this trend. We’ll also provide guidance on how employers can use this trend as an opportunity to understand and meet employee needs.

On May 16, 2023, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2023-23 to provide the inflation-adjusted limits for health savings accounts (HSAs) and high deductible health plans (HDHPs) for 2024. The IRS is required to publish these limits by June 1 of each year.

These limits include:

• The maximum HSA contribution limit;
• The minimum deductible amount for HDHPs; and
• The maximum out-of-pocket expense limit for HDHPs